


Bonds

by Drawinganimemaster



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra and Adora have parents, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:40:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24504031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drawinganimemaster/pseuds/Drawinganimemaster
Summary: I’m Catra Uzumaki, a ninja first and foremost. But back when I was twelve I didn’t give a damn about becoming a ninja. Before we get started, let me make myself perfectly clear. This is not a story about a girl with a troubled past who gives it her all to make her dream of becoming the Hokage come true. That was my mom’s story. And since I’m the Hokage’s kid I can’t help it that my mom is in my story. But it is my story. My story starts with me being a brat sulking about my mom not paying enough attention to me. Lame right?Again. This is my story. But just for a while—at the beginning—it’s a story about me and my mom.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Kudos: 15





	1. PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

1

Hidden Leaf Village - 2019

Erma Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage, first of her tribe, reigns over the Hidden Leaf Village as a beacon of protection and peace between the kingdoms. A war hero since childhood. She was forced to make dire decisions, having to grow up too soon, along with the burdens of the nine tailed beast sealed within her. Despite it all, she overcame the trials of her circumstance and paved a path no one expected. Once shunned by all, she became acknowledged by the village in its entirety. Erma is not a woman of long wind and so she will not spend hours basking in her monumental deeds and accomplishments. It was not easy and even with peace—problems still prevail.

“She’s your daughter,” her long time rival and best friend, Ava Uchiha, breaks her from her stupor. “You can’t be surprised by the outcome.”

“My  _ daughter  _ committed an ill-mannered crime by defacing my statue on the Hokage rock with streaks of paint.  _ Stupid old lady  _ in bold red right across my forehead. And she’s smart enough to know how not to get caught. If she spent her efforts with a more meaningful task...”

Ava’s laugh is as light as her blonde hair. “Like you were any better her age! You did the same thing with Lord Fourth, before you even knew who he was to you. Maybe it’s an Uzumaki tradition? Watch out for Ema when she gets to be Catra’s age.”

Erma looks at the picture on her desk: a happier time. In the shiny frame she’s looking back at herself smiling up at her oldest—a shadow clone of her former self—who wears an innocent grin so wide it forces Catra’s eyes to pinch closed. Erma used to grin like that in her youth; freely and unkept. When she became Hokage, responsibility and work made Erma delegate her time. She doesn’t go home as much and when she does she’s far too exhausted to spend time with her family but it’s the price she made: the whole village is her family now. She thought Catra understood that but, as the years went by, with all nighters at the office, Erma no longer came home to see the free, unkept, grin from her daughter. In fact, she doesn’t think she’s seen Catra truly smile in months.

“Catra isn’t like me. Maybe she’s more like you?”

Ava stops her train of thought with a cold look only a member of the infamous Uchiha clan can deliver.

Erma shakes her head. “No, she’s not like you either. Times have changed, ya know? Ninjas aren’t the same anymore without the threat of real danger.”

“Is there a point to your dreary monotone brooding?”

Erma looks away. “Catra’s clothes...they always look brand new.”

“Don’t worry so much about her. You’re wrong on this one. That kid is just like you.”

“I hope so,” she sighs. “But I know you didn’t travel all the way from—wherever you were—to have small talk about my daughter. What’s going on?”

Ava’s face caves in. “Some imposters...it must be. There have been sightings of children with sharingan.”

“What? That’s impossible! The only people in the entire world who should have it are—“

“Adora and I. But I’ve seen it myself, I tried to catch one of them but a mysterious black portal was used for their escape. It’ll take some time but I’ll be able to track them down.”

Erma leans back in her chair. “This seems like nothing you can’t handle. Why come all this way and in person? I know it’s not because you missed my lovely whiskers.”

“They’re nearing the village. I’m suspecting they may be after Adora for her eyes.”

“Have they developed yet?”

“The Uchiha crest she wears branded to her back is enough of a hint. I tried to get Caleb to take down the mantles of the insignia he likes to keep outside the house but he refuses. Something about pride for the clan he married into.”

Erma frowns. “You should have pride. And you shouldn’t have to hide in your own home. I made sure of that.”

“I know. Thanks for looking out for her when I wasn’t here. I know people still don’t take kindly to my family name because of everything that’s happened in the past.”

“You’re thanking the wrong person. Catra’s the one who got into a fight her first day at the academy because some kids were bullying Adora about her clan.”

Ava smiles. “Either way, I can’t stay away knowing she’s in danger by this group. I’ll be staked out nearby searching, I’m sure they’ll show up soon, and when they do I’ll send you a letter so you can join me for the interrogation. A simple shadow clone will suffice. I know you’re in abundant supply.”

“Of course. I’ll do what I can.”

“I should go. This way Queen Angella can come back in to do whatever it is she does now.”

Erma snorts. “From Bright Moon nonetheless...it does feel good though. To have our kingdoms at peace after so long.”

“What’s she doing here?”

“She’s moving with the times and introducing her daughter to the ideals of being a ninja. They’re providing us with a lot of technology to help advance our research.”

“Times are changing.”

“For the good.”

Ava is already halfway to the door. “I’ll see you when I see you.”

“Adora is a promising ninja. Top of her class.” Erma says, “it’s been so long since she’s seen you. And you’re rarely in the village. Maybe you should stop by.”

“Maybe you should take your own advice.”

Erma scratches her neck with a sheepish look. “Hey, give me a break, I’ve literally got a mountain of paperwork and hundreds of shadow clones helping out around the village.”

Ava waves a goodbye with her back to Erma so she can hide the smile stretching across her face.   
  


2

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Catra nods, eyebrows pinched tight with sweat racing down her face. “Yeah. It’s the only way we can be sure, ya know.”

Adora gulps. “But...we’re just adding fuel to the fire—“

“What choice do we have, Adora? We have to be brave. For everyone.”

Adora shakes her head so viciously her hair puff atop her head bounces out of place; but it has long since become trained to any bouts of motion. When her shaking stops her cheeks are tinted red with adrenaline and her eyes are determined. “You’re right. We have to protect them.”

Catra sends her a reassuring smile and says “hey, we can do it. Together, okay?”

“Right. On the count of three. One.”

They each pull out a small packet of the most infamous hot sauce within the village. A brand of hot sauce so dangerously unstable that it has been banned from the other nations. Glimmer snagged them a few packets from an old friend after weeks of Adora’s begging—Catra’s threats didn’t make her decision any easier.

“Two.”

They break the seal of the hot sauce, splitting the branded flames in half along the plastic, before they dump all the contents beneath the bun.

“Three!”

They daringly take a hefty bite from the new limited edition super spicy Thunder Burger. Their echoing gulps are mute under the viscous winds spiraling around them from their seats about the village train. A second passes before—

“Ack!” Adora cracks first, never a fan of the heat, she takes a long sip from her water container. “I can’t feel my tongue…”

Catra lets out a satisfied sigh. Her tail flicks happily and her ears fold back but the wind masks the tell. “Ah! So spicy!” She’d kick her feet if she weren’t so aware of the eyes on her.

“I can’t even taste anything, spicy food is definitely not for me—“

Catra takes another bite. “...so you’re not gonna eat yours—“

“I didn’t say that.” Adora huffs, not wanting to be left behind. She eats her death burger but at a leisurely pace. “At least now we can tell Bow and the others this is not something they should be eating. At least, not with drops of extra hot sauce.”

“Yeah but it’s more fun this way.”

Adora laughs. “You’re not wrong.”

Catra finishes her burger in record time. She throws her hands behind her head, leaning her full weight into the low rise of the metal, and takes in the sight of the village under the light of the afternoon. She’s glad she had the foresight to pull her hair back this time, when she came up with Bow and Glimmer when Adora was sick one day her hair was nothing but a poof by the end of the ride. Glimmer teased her the whole way home because her hair wouldn’t fall to its natural state.

Catra subconsciously teases a loose strand.  _ It’s getting longer, _ she thinks—she’s growing up.

“Our days at the academy are gonna end tomorrow.”

Catra glances at her best friend, surprised at the sudden dreary look on her usually bright face. “I know. We’ll get to go on missions. Be split up into three man teams.”

“The best friend squad has four members though.” Adora pulls her knees into her chest and sulks. “Either way we’re gonna be split up.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Adora glares at her. “What did you—“

“Friendship is forever. Right?” Catra grins at her with that free, unkept, expression she reserves for a select few.

Adora’s bright smile rivals the unkept grin. “Right. No matter what happens we’ll all still be friends.”

Catra tucks further into the metal. “You worry too much. This’ll be a breeze. I bet I’ll be so good at missions that they’ll send me on the highest ranking ones within a week. I don’t even need a team.”

“Right.” Adora isn’t convinced. “Everyone hears Lord Seventh when she’s speaking on tv. She says the true success from a team comes from how well they work together—“

Catra scoffs. “Like that old lady knows anything about being out on the field. She’s a total suit. All she does is sit behind a desk, anyone can do that.”

“Still, she’s your mom, the strongest ninja in the village, you should tell her about your eye. What you saw.”

Catra’s right eye burns at the mention. A few weeks ago she was the only one who could see a mysterious shadow. It led to an unfortunate battle with one of her old tv hero’s, she would’ve been bested if Adora hadn’t followed her on a whim and stepped in to help. Together they were able to cast out the shadow. Catra’s eye hasn’t bothered her since.

“Ask her for help?” Catra looks at Hokage rock where her mother's face is branded in stone. While others see a beacon of strength all Catra sees is the old lady who comes home exhausted, wearing her Hokage garb on backwards while she’s rushing in the morning—the woman who chooses work over her family. “No way I’m telling her anything.”

“What if it happens again?”

“I’ll take care of it myself. I’m pretty amazing if you haven’t noticed.”

Adora groans. “Catra this is serious.”

“What’s with you?”

“Look...your dad told me to look out for you.”

“What? My dad did—mph!”

Adora shoves her barely eaten burger into Catra’s mouth to silence her. “Listen.” She stands up so Catra has to look up at her with wide eyes. “You and I might not be placed on the same team so I’m not sure if I can keep my promise I made to your dad. I’ll always look out for you, it’s our pact, but I can only do so much from afar. Tomorrow is our graduation exam so be smart and stay out of trouble. I know it’s too much to ask you to keep your head down so just be careful not to do anything too reckless.”

Catra answers with her voice muffled through the burger. It’s unrecognizable but after years together Adora understands.

“Good. I’ll see you then.” Adora holds out a hand and blindly jumps off the train. Catra looks over her shoulder to see her hanging on one of the telephone poles. Adora cups her mouth with her free hand to shout, “don’t be late this time!”

Catra rolls her eyes and finally takes the burger out her mouth. She stands up if only to meet her mother’s stone face head on with a glare. “You’re not so great. I’ll show you! Hokage dumbass!”

“Hey! Kid!”

Catra jumps to find one of the train attendants shaking an angry fist in her direction.

“You’re the one who crashed the train the last time! It’s dangerous up there! No, you’re the danger! Get down before—“

Catra smiles sheepishly. “Oh, sorry man.” She grabs her drink and leaps on the next telephone tower without another thought. Catra’s knees wobble a bit but she balances herself by stretching out her occupied hands. She bends down with a relieved sigh when she doesn’t fall face first into the dry dirt beneath her.

Catra takes another bite of her new favorite Thunder Burger. It reminds her of Adora and the intensity of her declaration. She and Adora have been best friends for as long as she can remember; when you’ve known someone that long, seen them everyday, it’s hard to notice when they’ve changed. But now that she thinks about it she has noticed the jump in Adora’s height, the seriousness in those blue eyes, her reserved persona, and the lengthening of her iconic ponytail. Adora is growing up too.

Deciding not to be left behind, Catra finishes off the burger along with her drink so she can free her hands to make a hand sign. “Shadow clone jutsu!”

Three clones of herself manifest from smoke. The clones grab each other by the ankles while one stays atop the telephone pole to hold them as their chain swings towards the ground. Catra jumps the rest of the distance when she gets close enough. The clones puff out of existence once their purpose has been met.

“Aw man.” Catra’s lip sticks out as she pats at the dirt marking her black blazer that’s lined with red along the edges of the risen collar. “I got dirt all over.”

Catra pats at the dirt until it turns to dust and doesn’t stop until she looks brand new again.


	2. A NEW NINJA WAY!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The part of the story about me and my mom.

CHAPTER ONE:

A NEW NINJA WAY!

1

Hidden Leaf Village – 2020

(I’m Catra Uzumaki, a ninja first and foremost. But back when I was twelve I didn’t give a damn about becoming a ninja. For those of you who don’t know, the Hokage is the number one ninja of the village and is sworn to protect the people living within the walls. Before we get started, let me make myself perfectly clear. This is _not_ a story about a girl with a troubled past who gives it her all to make her dream of becoming the Hokage come true. That was my mom’s story.

And since I’m the Hokage’s kid I can’t help it that my mom is in my story. But it is _my_ story. Bear with me, I know I wasn’t the best person to get along with back then. My story starts with me being a brat sulking about my mom not paying enough attention to me. Lame right?

Again. This is _my_ story. But just for a while—at the beginning—it’s a story about me _and_ my mom.)

2

“Shadow clone jutsu!”

Catra makes three identical clones of herself that disperse in an instant. Shadow clone jutsu can only be performed if the user has high amounts of chakra (it’s actually her mother’s specialty—while Catra’s max is only five, her mother can make thousands). When she first mastered it Catra had such pride but now it only serves to remind her of how similar she is to her mother.

Catra jumps down from a towering tree and lands in the opening of the forest with her clones close behind. “Hey guys! I found the dumb panda!”

“It’s a bear, don’t underestimate it.” Glimmer, one of her childhood friends, says as she comes up beside her.

“It’ll be easy.” Catra throws her arms behind her head, grinning. She waits for Adora and Bow, the other members of their rare four cell team, to join them before she lets them in on it, “it’s just a stupid panda. Shouldn’t take long.”

“It’s obviously a bear!”

“Panda.” Catra says again just to see the vein on Glimmer’s head pop.

Bow says, “it doesn’t matter. Our main objective is to bring this—panda bear down.”

“Bow’s right.” Adora agrees, ever focused on the mission and ready with a kunai in her hand.

The panda bear makes its move once it realizes its cornered. Catra and Glimmer are too caught up in their banter, sending each other sly looks, and don’t notice the panda bear running towards them. Bow plucks one of his arrows from his back, a new one he’s perfected with a special ability. He shoots the arrow, tying some of his chakra into it to create a visible, ominous purple, rope that wraps around the panda bear and leaves it constricted.

“Yes!” Bow cheers when his prototype works.

“Great work Bow.” Glimmer says. She uses her teleportation jutsu to bounce around the restricted panda bear to make it dizzy in order to prevent it from gaining its bearings. By the time she’s used up most of her chakra the panda bear is in a daze (this is her signature move but it uses up most of her stamina so she only allows herself a specific amount of teleportation jumps).

Adora, who had been ready to strike the finishing blow with her super strength, enhanced by her Sharingan, gets blocked by Catra. Two of Catra’s shadow clones strike the panda bear in the face.

“Hey!” Adora can’t help but argue, “I had it.”

Catra grins at her from over her shoulder. “That’s a point for me.”

“That doesn’t count!”

“Not my fault you’re too slow to keep up.”

“What did you say?”

She doesn’t hate Adora—she’s her best friend—but it’s fun to get her all riled up. More so than when she messes with Glimmer. It’s much more…satisfying. No, she doesn’t hate Adora. It isn’t that, but, to put it simply, Adora’s eyes are always on her, so she wants to look good in front of her.

Rivalry is what they call it. _Probably_.

There is no room for another word from Adora when Bow’s chakra ropes give way as the panda bear uses its adrenaline to make its escape. While Catra’s blow hadn’t taken the beast out (that wasn’t the objective of their mission) she did hit its sensitive nerve between its eyes causing the beast to struggle twice as hard. It ran out further into the forest when it was finally free but more importantly it was out of range from the helpless villagers.

“See?” Catra grins at Glimmer, a shit eating one, and says, “it was easy, taking care of that _panda_!”

Catra doesn’t wait for the rest of the team and runs after the panda.

Bow can’t help but admit, “she is the daughter of the Seventh Hokage and the Fourth’s granddaughter…do you guys think she’ll become the Hokage too?”

“I’m the one who’s gonna be Hokage,” Adora huffs, running up to catch up with Catra.

3

“Catra! Are you listening to me?” Erma, the renowned Seventh Hokage, snaps.

“Yeah, I’m listening.” Catra looks away from the mountain of paperwork on her mother’s desk and sends her mother a questioning glare. “You are the real one, right? I’m not talking to one of your shadow clones, mom?”

“Of course I’m the real one. This is the Hokage’s office. And don’t call me mom here, it’s either Lady Seventh or Seventh.”

Catra shrugs. “Yeah, well, the mission was easy, miss. I could’ve done it myself.”

Glimmer rolls her eyes.

Erma says, “teamwork is the most important aspect for a shinobi. Working with your four-cell team will—”

“I didn’t even need to train to wrap up the mission.” Catra says, “I’ve already learned how to make five shadow clones, and how to make wind, lightning, and water release too.”

In simple terms, Catra is a prodigy. If she tries anything she can do it.

“Mermista!” Erma barks at her old student, “what have you been teaching her?”

Mermista nervously scratches the back of her neck having been berated by her long-time idol and sensei.

“Hey, don’t blame my sensei just because you don’t know anything about me.”

Erma frowns. “…as a shinobi the most important thing is—”

“More importantly,” Catra cuts in slamming her palms on the desk, “tomorrow is my little sister’s day and you better show up. I swear. If you forgot her birthday I’ll never forgive you.”

Erma’s face pinches up. _Good_ , Catra thinks, _if that didn’t make her look distraught I would’ve been worried._ Catra’s too focused on her mother to notice the empathetic look Adora has, watching her from behind.

The atmosphere shifts when Entrapta’s father, Kata, head of the Scientific Ninja Tool Division Agency, walks in with a proposition. He wants Lady Seventh to allow the tool to be used for this year’s Chunin Exams (a test used to reveal the abilities of a Genin in which the winner gets promoted to a Chunin.) Kata reveals a gauntlet that can shoot out ninjutsu of superior shinobi in the form of a miniature scroll.

Erma frowns. “The Chunin Exams aren’t a performance. They’re for raising shinobi. Your tool is useful, but if we use something like that in the Chunin Exams, there won’t be an examination on its use, will there?”

Catra watches Kata sulk away. She turns to her mother with a glare saying, “our era is different from your lame one”, just to get another rise out of her. She brushes past her team, ignoring her mother’s shout, and chases Kata out into the hallway.

Kata gives Catra the gauntlet as a means to test it out. It’s a common occurrence, she’s one of the main testers for most of Entrapta’s gadgets so it makes no difference in this situation. Catra takes the gauntlet and tucks it into the back of her ninja pouch that’s strapped on her waist to test out later.

4

The next day Catra slouches down in one of the signature red leather booths at Thunder Burger sometime near the late afternoon. It’s far too quiet, and has been for the duration of the week, usually by this time her usual group of friends would be around to keep her company. Without another player, her hand-held ninja game boy isn’t as satisfying. It’s way more fun to play with a larger group than going on solo missions.

“I can’t feel my pinchers.” She recognizes Scorpia’s voice when the door opens.

“Getting zapped by one of my own bots was not in the plans for today.”

“I’m sorry.” The voice dips with sarcasm so it can only belong to Double Trouble (nicknamed DT for short). “Look, we all know water doesn’t go well with you and your little friends. I don’t know how we got paired to be on the same team.”

Catra waves her hand and says, “hey guys! Sit over here I’ve got space.”

“Hey wildcat.” Scorpia literally melts into the seat across from her quickly to be followed by the other members of her team.

“You guys look exhausted. What’s going on?”

DT groans. “Our parents are really intense with their training coursework. We’ve been up since sunset working to perfect our skills.”

“Ew, why?”

“Because the Chunin exams are less than two months away…”

“Oh yeah.” Catra waves her game boy in Scorpia’s face. “Hey log on. I need a player two.”

“My mom hid mine so I can focus on getting a good night sleep for training the next day. Sorry.”

Catra falls back with groan. “That sucks!”

“Aren’t you training too? With Lady Seventh?”

Catra scoffs at the thought of her mother having time for anything but work.

“Catra!” The front door slams open to reveal a livid Glimmer with a weary Adora and Bow close behind.

“Sparkles—“

Glimmer grabs her by the collar of her blazer. “You were supposed to meet us hours ago so we could train. We have less than two months to get ready, you haven’t even filled out the paperwork!”

“I’m not sure I wanna compete in some stupid tournament.”

“Catra,” Adora pulls Glimmer away with a gentle hand. “We need the whole team to agree to participate. We can’t compete without you.”

“Look,” because it’s Adora she says, “I’ll think about okay?”

Glimmer slams her hand to the table. “That’s not good enough for me. Unlike you, I’m not guaranteed a spot in this village because of my mother's good graces. Some of us have to work for things. Adora’s gonna be the next Hokage! Do you really want to derail her dream because of your stupid pride?”

Catra remembers the first time Adora had told her what her new goal would be. It was an early morning at the academy and Adora was the first to arrive, like always, and usually Catra is the last to show up but she wanted to do something without prying ears.

_Catra sat down beside Adora at their usual shared desk. “Thank you.”_

_Adora quirks an eyebrow._

_“You know. For delivering that lunch to my mom the other day or whatever.”_

_Adora smiles. “I should be thanking you. Because of what happened, aside from defeating those clones with Sharingan who tried to kill me and my family—“_

_“I’m still super jealous you got to go on a cool mission like that without even being a ninja yet.”_

_“I’ve decided.”_

_“On what?”_

_“Well, I can’t deliver every individual lunch to all the people in the village. So I’ve decided to become the Hokage.”_

_Catra looks away. “Hokage? Ridiculous.”_

“The Hokage isn’t a right you get passed down to you just because your mother and grandfather got it.” Glimmer continues. “So stop—“

“—the Hokage is something I don’t want at all!” A low hush breaks over the restaurant, Catra says, “Adora, if you want to be Hokage then go for it. I won’t stop you. But you better stay single, if not you’ll just be a burden to your family.”

Glimmer deflates. “...Catra.”

“Awe man, you made me lose my game. Whatever. It was getting too easy with those cheat codes anyway.” Catra stands up to dispose of her tray. “I’m heading out.”

Glimmer, Bow, and Adora follow her out despite the tense air. They walk in comfortable silence until they reach one of the benches near one of the newly planted gardens. Catra plops down on the edge followed by Adora and Bow.

Glimmer keeps on her feet so she can pace. “Catra I’m begging you.”

“Look it’s a three-man team thing anyway. Why can’t I just sit this one out and let Bow take my spot? They’ve already bent the rules for us once.”

“Only because there was an uneven number of teams.”

Bow tries to persuade her. “Come on, it’ll be a great opportunity to show Lady Seventh how great we are.”

Catra looks away from the looming clouds overhead and considers what Bow just said. She would like to get her moms’ attention and being the Hokage means her mother will be sitting up front watching every contestant. “All right already. I’ll do it just stop bugging me about it.”

“Yes!” Glimmer jumps up in excitement almost jump-starting her teleportation jutsu. “This is going to be great! We’ll start training tomorrow at nine sharp to improve our skills. I’ve been working on some new ways to improve my stamina.”

Adora smiles. “And I’ve been practicing my fire style.”

Bow gestures to his arrows strapped on his back. “I’ve been tinkering with some new quirks for my arrows. Should fit right in with our elemental consistencies.”

They turn to Catra expectant.

“Uh...I’ve made it to level thirty on my game boy.”

Bow and Glimmer groan. Adora is the only one who looks amused, and somewhat fond, as she says, “only because you cheat.”

“It’s more fun that way.”

Glimmer groans. “Game time is over. We need to show them all Team 7 is the best by far.”

“Yeah!” Bow cheers. “Best friend squad style!”

“Always.” Glimmer says, “Adora. Do you have the training plan written up for us?”

Adora looks gleeful as she pulls out a lengthy bullet list from her backpack. “Yes! And it’s color coated based on our chakra natures. My portion is red, fire style, Glimmer is grey for her wind style, Bow green for his earth style, and Catra is a rainbow because somehow she managed to learn—“

“Water, wind, and lightning style.” Catra grins.

“Right.” Adora huffs. “Anyway, I created coursework based on all our weaknesses so we can get stronger and learn how to adapt to the toughest situations. This’ll help unlock new skills since we won’t be able to rely on our old ones. I made copies if you guys want them to look over for tomorrow. This way you can study.”

Catra takes the copy with a complaint. “I graduated from the academy so I didn’t have to study.”

“Stop complaining. This is great work Adora.”

Bow agrees. “Yeah I can’t wait to look it over.”

“Oh yeah,” Catra changes the dreary subject when she remembers something. “Adora, is your mom gonna come watch the Chunin Exams?”

Adora looks away. “I don’t know if she will. She’s in town but who knows with her.”

“She’ll show up,” Catra reassures. “My mom speaks so highly of her. Saying Mrs. Ava is the other Hokage. That she’s the only one who can fight equally with her.”

“Seventh is just being generous.”

“No way. You’re wrong about her—"

“Catra!”

They look over to see Ellie, Catra’s younger sister, waving excitingly next to her father, Gen. Catra’s father is a tall lanky man with wild hair he keeps short because of his unwillingness to tame it. He has square rimmed glasses that makes him look softer than he actually is. In truth, he was also a worthy opponent during the war—prince of the Hyuga clan. He trained from childhood so when the war ended he took the first chance he got to settle down for a mundane life. But his children definitely keep him on his toes.

“Big sis!” Ellie shouts again and breaks Catra out of her surprise. “It’s my birthday! Remember?”

Catra grins so unkempt, and free, it makes her eyes squint shut with the force of it. Adora feels her chest throb at the unrestrained affection while Bow and Glimmer are blinded by the light.

“Sorry guys, I’m heading home for the day.” Catra says, running off to catch up with her family.

Ellie jumps on Catra’s back to be carried the rest of the way home. “My birthday is going to be awesome! Right, big sis?”

“Yeah, sure is!”

Glimmer is stunned. “So Catra _can_ smile.”

Bow nods also in disbelief. “Yeah.”

Adora is familiar with Catra’s expression of unkept joy but it still leaves her unbalanced every time. And so she stares, fascinated, at the sight of Catra’s back. It is uncanny how similar it is to the sight of the Seventh’s.

5

Catra prides herself on never going back on her word. The shame she feels for actually giving her mother the benefit of the doubt weighs her down. Ellie’s birthday started on a good note: her mother actually showed up, forgoing work, and things felt like they used to all those years ago. When it was time for the cake to come out they gathered around to sing for Ellie. Her mother carried the cake that inevitably fell to the ground a in chilling _splat_. Followed by a _poof_ as the impostor turned to a white cloud of smoke. A shadow clone. The old lady couldn’t even attend her youngest daughters birthday herself. The coward.

“Catra—” her father’s soft voice did nothing to calm her down this time. And before she could spout off about terrible things about her mother there was a knock at the door.

Catra ran to answer it with her fist ready. “You’ve got some nerve coming back here—” she threw a punch but instead of meeting her mother’s cloaked stomach, her punch was caught by a strangers firm hand. “Ahh!”

Her mother is not at the door. A tall woman, draped in a white and gold cloak, with familiar blonde hair stands staring at her with calculating blue eyes.

“I’m so sorry!” Catra bows. “I thought you were someone else.”

“…you must be Erma’s kid. Catra, right?”

She nods.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Ava?” Her father comes out from the kitchen looking surprised. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”

 _No way,_ Catra thinks, _Ava Uchiha? So cool!_

“I am. Taking care of some things and staying to cheer my daughter on in the upcoming tournament. A little training too. Is Erma here?”

“No, she’s still at the office.”

“I see. Sorry for bothering you so late.” Ava leaves just as quickly as she’d came but she manages to leave an impression on Catra. So much so that Catra follows her out the door before she can get too far. She’s more excited than she’ll ever admit. Catra has heard the high praises from her mother about the only person able to match her in battle, the ultimate rival, Ava Uchiha, and a few snippets of her awesomeness from Adora. She wants to test out Ava’s ability for herself so she conjures up a shadow clone when she nears the corner to make a move but when she gets there Ava is no where to be found so she dissipates the clone and reveals her true form.

“She was just—ack!” Catra falls on her back due to a swift kick to the leg.

Ava stares down at her with an amused expression. It’s familiar to the crinkle Adora gets in the corner of her eyes when she grins at something funny Catra’s said or done.

“Awesome! You really are the real deal, huh? You used to be my mom’s rival, right?” Catra asks, standing up to dust her clothes off.

Ava accesses the delicate facial features that are more similar to Gen. She then takes into account the neat clothes void of any tears or stains. “…that’s what she meant by brand new.”

It’s clear Catra was brought up pampered and loved, different from her mother. So Ava is surprised when Catra bows once more to request, “please. Make me your student. There’s someone I want to beat!”

Ava sees a bit of herself in Catra so she throws her a bone. “Can you perform the Rasengan?”

Catra looks away.

Ava snarks, “without that, you can’t be a student of mine,” and walks past her with the _whoosh_ of her cloak.

“Oh yeah? That’ll be easy!” Catra declares at Ava’s retreating back.

Ava smiles to herself.

6

Catra wakes Mermista at the dead of the night shouting outside her backyard. “Catra, what are you—”

“Teach me the Rasengan, sensei! Right now! I’ve gotta master it quick, ya know!”

“Rasengan?” She hasn’t seen Catra this fired up in a long time. “…oh, I get it. You’re looking for something to pull out your sleeve for the Chunin Exams. Finally acting like a true shinobi!”

Catra scratches her neck. “Uh, yeah, sure.”

The idea of training the Fourth’s granddaughter and the Seventh’s daughter fires Mermista up as well. “All right!”

Catra flinches at her sensei’s unusual enthusiasm. “Uh, yeah okay?”

7

“Why do I have to start with a water balloon?” Catra complains the next day while they train in an open field.

“Look, it took the Fourth Hokage three years to develop this jutsu. It took Lady Seventh about half a year to master it. The degree of difficulty could be expressed as an A rank. Think about that. Properly go through the lesson steps. That’s how I mastered the jutsu too.”

Catra thinks about it for a moment and then picks up the water balloon she had carelessly tossed away in her frustration. She doesn’t see Mermista’s smile because she is too focused on her new task.

8

“Catra are you okay?” Adora asks after the end of one of their early morning team training lessons. “You didn’t use any of your shadow clones this time. Same thing with the other days.”

Catra yawns. “Isn’t the point of this training is to focus on our other skills?”

“I guess so…” Adora doesn’t push it. And because she hasn’t had a moment alone with Catra in a while she says, “hey, let’s get some food from Thunder Burger. Then we can ride the train as a reward for working hard today.”

Catra pushes herself off the ground. “Can’t. I’ve gotta take care of something.”

“Where’re you going?” Glimmer asks when she and Bow walk over after cleaning up the mess.

“Somewhere. I’ll see you guys later.”

Glimmer wonders, “what’s with her? I feel like she never wants to hang around anymore.”

“Yeah,” Bow agrees, “I wonder where she’s running off to.”

9

Days pass along with even longer nights. Catra sneaks off after morning training to meet Mermista in the woods where she concentrates on the water balloon. When she manages to burst it with her chakra Mermista hands her a rubber ball for phase two.

Her friends’ curiosity peak a few days later. Glimmer, Bow, and Adora follow Catra out to the woods one day and are surprised to find her training. They don’t recognize her: her clothes and headband are stained with grim and her eyes are focused. Adora becomes so entranced by the image she stops by randomly throughout the week to check Catra’s progress. Cheering her on silently. It makes Adora delegate her own time, apart from group training, to perfect her fire ball jutsu.

On rare occasions, Ava shows up to help her in her training.

10

“How’s this?”

Ava is surprised when Catra drags her out to the woods a few days later to reveal a small, frail, ball of blue light between the palms of her hands. It is without a doubt, a Rasengan. And in such little time.

“It’s pretty small. Not much of a Rasengan but—”

“Damn it!” Catra’s eyes well with tears and she throws the Rasengan away out of frustration. It disappears into the air while Catra runs off.

Ava doesn’t follow her.

“Mom!” Adora jumps out from the canopy of a tree. “You shouldn’t be so hard on her. Catra doesn’t work hard for anything the fact that she—”

Ava pulls Adora close to her. A sharp sound of something cutting through the air stops them. The tree Adora had just been standing in front of smashes up.

“What was that?”

Ava examines the tree saying, “I was going to tell her she could be my student before she ran off in a fit.”

Adora’s face lights up. She runs off to find Catra and tell her the good news. She looks at all of Catra’s favorite spots but comes up empty every time. She ends up sitting out on one of the park benches in defeat. She questions how things got to be like this. How she can no longer predict Catra’s whereabouts.

But most of all, she wonders when Catra found a life outside of her.

11

Catra picks up the gauntlet from her room before running off to Kata to find out how it works. She’s on the other side of the village so she misses Adora who’s looking for her to share the news.

“No hand seals needed. You’ll have limitless power with little effort.”

Kata demonstrates. Fire, lighting, and wind appear above his palm. He moves on and pulls out several bright balls above his palm.

Catra’s interest is peaked. “Rasengan too?”

“If you used this, you could become a ninja who surpasses the Seventh.”

Catra whispers, “I could use the Rasengan…”

“Think even bigger. Come on, give it a try for yourself.”

This time, Catra doesn’t hesitate.

12

Ava takes Catra as her student, she gets the news from Adora the next morning, and so they head out into the woods late at night to discuss the details of her future training. Ava is going over what has to be some memorized list (probably color coated in her mind like something Adora is into) when Catra gets impatient.

“I get it, lots of work to do, all that good stuff. But what I really want to know is stuff about my mom!”

Ava smiles a bit at the memories. “About Erma, huh? It’s pretty simple. All she ever did was run around telling people she’d become the Hokage someday.”

“Not that,” Catra huffs, “I mean her weaknesses.”

Ava looks into the fire. “…she was full of weaknesses but she pulled herself up with her own power and became the Hokage. Don’t worry so much about who your mother is right now but focus on the Erma of the past who fought so hard to get to this point.”

“…huh?”

Ava shakes her head. “That’s enough for tonight. Go home and get some rest. The real training starts tomorrow.”

13

The Chunin Exams seemly come out of nowhere. Suddenly Catra finds herself at a loss and in a moral dilemma. Having been practically useless the first round, almost giving up and sinking into the pit in the ground that had caved in, Bow was their teams MVP. He used his special rope arrow to keep them from falling. Glimmer had caught the middle while Adora held on to the end (also managing to save Catra’s ass by grabbing her arm).

Her team was excited for the next round. _Not giving up_. That had been the true test and Catra had failed.

The next day she had no choice but to use the gauntlet when she was bested by Frosta of all people (the child prodigy). Forced into a corner, Adora’s smiling face when Catra agreed to join the exam, and the _Congratulations_ email her mother sent for winning the first round, it made her decision easier. She used the gauntlet tucked beneath the sleeve of her jacket to conjure a wave of water followed by lightening to render Frosta useless. Catra managed to protect their flag from getting stolen but it was Adora who won the round for their team when she used her Sharingan to find their opponents real flag among the sea of fakes.

The guilt hit the hardest when her mother came to see her the same day saying, “you passed the Second Exam…you did really well…”

Catra’s breath had caught. “You…came all the way here just to say that?”

“It’s important. The most important thing.” Erma remembered, “but…one more important thing before I go.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you dare lose to Adora!” Erma grinned, holding out her fist.

Catra pulled her sleeve down to hide the ninja tool. She didn’t think she had the right to return the fist bump anyway. “…as if I’d lose to a pony tail like her.”

Erma looked a little disappointed but made her fist again and bumped it into Catra’s collar. “I’ll be watching.” She smiled before leaving.

Catra listened to the footsteps growing distant. They didn’t disappear so she knew it hadn’t been a shadow clone.

“She could’ve just sent an email.” Catra clutched her shirt collar with a grin. For a moment, her guilt had been pushed aside for the joy she felt.

14

Catra uses her kunai to slice open her hand during the exam when Adora traps her in a genjutsu from her Sharingan. One of the ways to escape from a genjutsu is by pain experienced from a source other than the attacker. It hurts like hell but it’s worth it when the Adora dummy melts into the ground revealing the real one on the other side.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Catra says, careful not to look into those red eyes again.

“I’m not always gonna to be a step behind you.”

Adora rushes to her with her fist ready. Catra’s always been the quickest of the two but her chakra has been sapped and she doesn’t think she can dodge in time. And with Adora’s monster strength she can’t risk it. Not to mention that annoying fire ball jutsu Adora had up her sleeve (she nearly burned Catra’s jacket, the nerve).

Adora is a worthy opponent. She always has been. Catra has no choice.

 _I’m sorry_ , Catra thinks as she uses the ninja tool to produce a dozen shadow clones to slow Adora down. Her fighting style is daring. Adora easyly gets rid of the clones with swift kicks and punches. It’s enough time for Catra to sneak up from behind with a full sized Rasengan she wouldn’t normally be able to produce.

She knocks Adora off her feet and she watches her falls, defeated.

The raging crowd cheers Catra on. She goes to help Adora to her feet but Erma jumps down from the stands and the crowd cheers louder. Catra thinks her mother came down to congratulate her so she holds out her fist, grinning. The adrenaline from the fight dulls her from seeing how unhappy her mother is and so she’s startled when Erma grabs her hand and slides down her sleeve to reveal the tool.

“Catra Uzumaki has transgressed by using a prohibited ninja tool and is disqualified from the Chunin Exams! The winner has been corrected to Adora Uchiha!”

The spectators in the Colosseum boo in unison. Adora is shocked, toeing somewhere between angry and sad. She always thought her and Catra were running towards the same thing—she’s at a loss now that she realizes Catra hadn’t been on the same path as her.

Catra looks down, not putting up a fight when her mother removes her ninja headband.

Erma says, “we’re in the middle of the exams. We’ll talk about this later.”

Catra snaps, “are you sure you have time for that? If you had talked to me earlier, took the time to train me yourself, none of this would’ve happened! Then I wouldn’t be in this mess!”

Erma flinches at the pure emotion bursting out of her daughter.

Kata steps out into the field suddenly and breaks the tension. “Everyone gathered here today! This is the Scientific Ninja Tool used by Catra! She may have been disqualified, but the thing that got her all the way here is without doubt this Scientific Ninja Tool!”

“Kata!” Erma growls. If the crowd favors the tool in this scenario then there will be little Erma can do about keeping it away from the Chunin Exams in the future.

“And so, honored Five Kage (the other leaders from their neighboring five nations) and people from other villages, we have taken this chance to make an appeal for this scientific ninja tool here!”

Suddenly two mystic beings appeared over the arena draping them all in shadows. It becomes clear to everyone that they are enemies. Catra is so shaken she can’t move; the presence of death makes her feet sink into the ground. “It’s that one...” the young beast points at Erma, “she one holds the strongest and biggest chakra here. If we harness it, we should be able to plant the Divine Tree again...”

Kata shouts, “hey, hey! What’re you people doing? Right now, this is my—“ Kata approaches without understanding the situation, and before he can show off the gauntlet, he is blown back by a single blow from the beast.

“My Byakugan sees a fox...” the young beast says.

“So your target is me then?” Erma says, sweat racing down the side of her face. There are too many innocent people at the exam so she can’t go all out without worrying about hurting somebody.

“Let’s go!” Perfuma and the other sensei’s notice the panic and work on evacuating the arena. Bow and Glimmer step in when they notice a few helpless children who lost their parents in the chaos.

The two beasts hovering in the air raise their arms and a large ball of fire forms overhead.

“Catra, Adora, stay behind me!” Erma shouts, arms stretched out to prepare for the attack.

The beasts throw balls of fire all around the arena but are deflected by Erma and her thousand shadow clones that spread out to protect people all around the village in an instant. Erma, clade in her Kyuubi Chakra form, braces herself for another blow when Ava suddenly jumps beside her. Ava stretches out her arm to create a gold and white chakra induced shield—power gained from She Ra, her house lineage.

Catra stares at the shadow clones, encased in golden chakra, and then she looks at her mother’s back. The sight has always taunted her but now it leaves her amazed. _I didn’t know mom had this much power…_

“Ava.” Erma doesn’t sound surprised to see her rival.

“If you get taken down it’s all over. So pull yourself together.”

Erma smiles. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. Here comes another one!”

Adora takes a staggering step back as she watches the next ball of fire, tied in with bolts of electricity, form from the hands of gods. Catra steadies her shaking hand and swallows down her last ounce of fear. With a steady hand, she creates a shadow clone and together they stand in front of Adora so they can act as her shield.

 _This could all be my fault,_ Catra decides, _I have to protect her._

The ball of fire expands to fit other forms of chakra that the beasts had stolen. Catra quickly realizes the beasts can absorb chakra thrown at them through their hands and use it to their advantage. As their free hands absorb the failed attacks from the sensei protecting the civilians, it only adds more fuel to the large ball of chakra.

Erma’s voice is grim, “Ava. Do me a favor and watch out for the kids.”

Ava nods. “I understand.”

Erma punches her stomach. “Don’t get rusty on me, Kurama!” She braces herself as the beasts throw everything they’ve got at them. The force of the attack hitting Ava’s exterior shield causes the earth to shake. Catra’s clone can’t hold on and disappears in a fog of smoke so she steps in front of Adora herself even as the shield begins to crack. A slice of electricity from the blast manages to slip past Erma and Ava, slicing Catra’s jacket and leaving behind a jagged tear.

Erma must be connected to her by something deeper than family bonds because she looks back at Catra. There is no room for fear. As the shield crumbles and light encases them, her mother grins back at her.

Catra suddenly gets it. “Mom! No!”

The last thing Catra sees is the sight of her mother’s back.

15

When Catra wakes up she’s in a hospital bed. Adora is the first person she sees, face filled with relief and warm tears running down her cheeks. “You’re okay.” Adora hugs her tight.

Catra sinks into the warmth, asking “what happened?”

Adora pulls away but its Glimmer, who’s standing near the door with Bow, who says “your mom saved the village.”

Catra suddenly remembers her mother’s back.

“…but they took her and we don’t know if—Catra!”

She ignores the burn in her body and leaps out of bed to run from the torrent of memories. Catra runs to the Hokage’s office as if her mother would still be there sitting behind her desk surround by piles of paperwork. But the office is empty. Catra gravitates to the desk and looks at the pictures of their family her mother keeps close. Then she looked at the frames of the past Hokage’s lined along the walls. She stops at her grandfather’s portrait, the Fourth.

_“Mom said when she was a kid grandpa wasn’t around! That means mom grew up not knowing about family, right? She’s the only one who doesn’t know what it’s like!_

Catra’s eyes burns as her words come back to haunt her.

_“If that’s the case, if I knew things would be like this…then it would’ve been better if mom was never here from the beginning…”_

Catra clenches her fist.

_“She just sits behind a desk all day looking bossy, right? Anyone could do it!”_

Catra looks at the ragged jacket her mother used to wear when she was her age. She picks up realizing, “it’s so dirty…” She shrugs off her own clean jacket to slip into her mother’s. She hugs it close as she’s looking at herself in the mirror. For the first time she finally sees. “I’m so…lame.”

“You are.” Ava says, walking in to stand behind her. “Everyone booed you at the exam after you cheated, making a mockery of tradition and your mother’s name...you were stripped of your headband too so you’re not even a shinobi right now. Your little sister cried, your father got hurt trying to bring your mother back…and you lost your mother. If you didn’t have your little sister and father who love you then you’d be just like Erma when she was your age. So, what will you do now?”

“…what…what would my mom do?”

“Seems like you don’t want to know about her weaknesses now, huh.” Ava smiles. “You can ask her yourself. I’m going to get her. I can still feel her chakra and can pinpoint her location.”

Catra perks up, “so?”

“She’s not dead yet.”

“…I don’t understand. Why are you even bothering with someone like me?”

“You really are a strong shinobi. I lost to your mom, but you can become a woman who’ll surpass her.”

“...how can you say that?”

“Because. You’re a bigger loser than she ever was.”

Catra frowns. “Huh?”

“You hate losing even more than she does.”

Catra feels a fire burning inside of her.

“Furthermore, you are my number one student.”

16

“Get ready to head out!” Ava shouts over the wind.

Adora shuffles over to her mom. “Let me come with you. I’m ready to fight.”

“Adora,” she whispers, “you’re the only one in the village who has the Sharingan. Stay here and help out, okay?”

“…fine.” Adora tries not to look too disappointed.

Catra walks up to Adora when Ava leaves her alone to open the portal. Catra clutches the sleeve of her mother’s jacket and gains the courage to say, “uhm, Adora…about earlier. During the exams and everything—”

“You have somewhere you need to be.”

Put off by the dismissal, Catra looks away.

“But I’ll listen to what you have to say when you get back.”

Catra smiles, “…Adora—”

“Be careful!” Bow comes out of nowhere to smother her with a hug in which Glimmer and Adora join. “We might not be able to come with you but we’ll be cheering you on.”

Catra smiles at the warmth she feels. “Thanks guys.”

There will be a lot of apologizing but for now she has work to do.

“Catra!” Her father’s voice breaks the hug.

Catra pulls out the headband Ava gave her earlier and looks down at it as she contemplates her next move. There is no fear, only determination. She’s decided.

Catra pulls on Ava’s old headband that’s scratched across the middle. Gen blinks and sees Erma tying the ends of the headband, smiling, unkept, and free. “Dad,” but the voice, the person who looks like a young Erma, is really Catra. “I’m going now. I promise, I’ll bring mom back.”

Gen can only nod in awe.

“Adora, take care of the village!” Catra says.

Because of that, because of Catra’s faith in the future Adora dreams of, Adora decides to believe in Catra one more time. And because Catra’s eyes still hold the bright look that had always been watching her until now.

Catra jumps into the void with the five Kage and her sensei.

17

“Catra?” Erma asks after her daughter cuts her down from the chains tying her to the looming tree with the help of their companions. “…why is she wearing that?” She recognizes Ava’s old headband right away and the mark she left on it herself all those years ago.

Ava smiles, “a lot of things happened. Long story short, she became a shinobi,” she leaves them in favor of chasing down the beast who had been holding Erma captive and siphoning her chakra.

Catra smiles at Ava’s retreating back in amazement.

Erma notices her old jacket her daughter is wearing. “…I feel like I’m looking at my own shadow clone.”

“Do I at least look a little bit cooler?”

“More than before.”

“Before, huh?” Catra sits across from her mother with her legs folded. “So I guess you were paying a little attention then.”

“I’m sorry…for everything. By trying to protect everyone in the village I ended up ignoring my family. And I didn’t try to understand you…when I was a kid I wanted attention so I used to get into all kinds of trouble just like you. I’m the last person who should be lecturing you.”

Catra’s surprised. “You used to get into trouble?”

“Oh yeah,” Erma snickers. “I’d paint _stupid_ and _idiot_ on the Great Stone Faces too. Mara Sensei would yell at me a lot for all the stuff I did.”

“No kidding.”

They stare at each other for an extended period of time, faces dripped in sorrow.

“Mom.” Catra says, looking away, “I don’t know anything about you.” She grips the fabric of her pants so she’s strong enough to say, “the truth is…I wanted to know all the time but my pride held me back…and I didn’t try to see your side and kept pushing back at you. But now I want to know.”

“Catra…I promise, from now on—”

“Stop. It was fine the way it was,” Catra drawls out, a look of content passing across her face. “But, when you’re around instead of lectures…I’d really like to hear about stories from your past.”

She helps her mother up.

“Okay. But are you sure about that?”

“Why not?”

Erma grins, “it’s a really long story!”

Catra laughs out in the mist of all the chaos.

Erma turns to the field where Ava and the others are keeping the beast at bay. “All right, if we’re gonna protect everyone we’d better get going.”

Catra thinks back to her mother smiling back at her, a blaze of golden glory, as she used the rest of her strength to protect the village.

“You’re always talking about protecting everyone. You really mean it, don’t you?”

“Of course, ya know!” Erma says, “I never go back on my word. That’s my Ninja Way.”

Catra beams up at her mother with admiration she hasn’t felt in a long time.

“Alright,” Erma pounds her hand into her fist and faces the battle. “Let’s do this.”

Catra copies her. “Yeah!”

18

Erma and Ava took down the true master mind behind the attack, Momoshiki, a god like being, and were careful not to use any jutsu he could absorb and direct back at them. The fight had been amazing and nothing like Catra had ever seen but it was short lived when Kata came out with a camera man in a final attempt at advertising his ninja tool.

“Let’s make sure to record this Scientific Ninja Tools power on camera! This is the best chance to show its appeal!”

Kata used the gauntlets to disperse water, fire, wood, and lightning release. Momoshiki acted quick and absorbed the jutsu and quickly gained strength again. Momoshiki gained the upper hand and rendered most of their forces useless. In the mist of it all Ava, tied down by some black ominous force from Monoshiki’s stolen power, told Catra to use her Rasengan. Catra was hesitant but trusted her sensei. Momoshiki was ready to catch it but let his guard down when the Rasengan disappeared but moments later, lighting sparked, and an invisible force knocked Momoshiki down thus releasing everyone from the jutsu keeping them rendered.

“Mom!” Catra jumped over with Ava to check on Erma who had been impaled by iron rods.

“When did you learn the Rasengan?” Erma asks, “do you know hard that is to learn?”

Catra smirks, allowing this bit of arrogance because she learned the jutsu through hard work.

Ava explains, “her rasengan adds a sudden change in chakra nature and then disappears. Thus creating… the _vanishing rasengan_.”

“No way!” Erma and Catra look identical as their jaws drop in excitement and surprise.

“Catra. Do it again.”

“Really? But my rasengan isn’t big enough to—”

“Do as Ava says. She’s your sensei.” Erma says softly.

“O-okay.” Catra obeys and conjures up her miniscule rasengan the same time Momoshiki does.

Erma reaches out and touches beneath Catra’s hand and uses the connection to make her rasengan bigger and larger until it weighs over their heads in great diameter. Erma lets it go so Catra can carry the weight all on her own.

 _This weight…is so heavy._ Catra thinks, _what she’s had to go through to get to this point…_

Erma grins at her, unkept, eyes pinched tight. The amount of confidence her mother has in her causes tears to form in Catra’s eyes. She’s motivated with her mother and sensei in her corner. Catra blinks away her tears, grinning as she turns back towards Momoshiki.

“I don’t feel like losing today!”

“I can make any number of those.” Momoshiki makes his rasengan just as large as Catra’s.

“We’ve only got one shot at this,” Ava says, readying her sword, “let’s go!”

Ava runs to Momoshiki head on but just as he gets close enough, Ava uses her Rinnegan to swap places with Catra so she’s the one on the front line. Momoshiki prepares to absorb the rasengan in her hand but Catra disappears in a cloud of smoke. “A shadow clone?”

Catra’s true form appears behind Momoshiki thanks to Ava swapping places with her again. Momoshiki turns around just in time to collide his rasengan into Catra’s.

“Ah!” Catra shouts, forcing her right hand to press harder against Momoshiki’s rasengan. The reaction of such strong forces intertwining causes the entire right sleeve of her mother’s jacket to disintegrate. Catra twists her wrist and her rasengan disappears.

Momoshiki’s guard slips. “Ha! Is that all you have? And you don’t have chakra left to make another—”

Catra’s rasengan, which only looked like it disappeared, swallows Momoshiki up.

19

“You’re a total mess,” Ava says, staring down where Erma sits on the ground.

“Looks who’s talking.”

Ava collapses across from her. “Yeah, I can barely stand.”

Erma laughs.

“…I won this contest. The soul of the shinobi never changes, even if we’re talking about your kid.”

Erma nods. “Now we’re at a tie then.”

Erma looks over where Catra stands alone on a rock with her back to them, basking in the after glows of the fight. Light shines over her making Catra look god-like even in her mother’s tattered jacket that now has not one but two sleeves ripped to shreds.

 _Catra, you’re right,_ Erma thinks, _things are different from my dads time. I’m a Hokage that’s here right now. And I’ll stay right here to watch over you…as you grow up._

20

The next day while the village is busy rebuilding after the mess Momoshiki left behind Catra knocks on Adora’s bedroom window. There is slight shuffling before Adora peeks her head out. It’s late afternoon so she’s not dressed in her ninja gear and opts for a simple shirt and sweats.

“Hey, Adora.” she says lacking her usual confidence.

“Catra…what’re you doing here?”

Catra holds up a bag from Thunder Burger. “Limited edition, super sour lemon burger with some lemon slices on the side so we can test our taste buds. You up for a quick ride on the train?”

Adora smiles at the familiarity. “Let me get my shoes.”

They make it to the top of the train without a hitch. Together they sit in silence with their burgers, still wrapped, the air awkward around them. After a moment they say—

“I wanted to say—”

“I’m really—”

They cut each other off. They stare, surprised, before breaking out into a fit of laughter.

Catra recovers first. “I’m sorry for everything. The first real fight we have and I had to mess it up by cheating…”

“You were acting like an idiot.”

Catra nods. “Yeah.”

“You could’ve talked to me.”

“I know…but you were so excited about the exam and smiled so bright when we won the first round, and my mom was finally noticing me…I didn’t want to let anyone down.”

Adora grabs Catra’s arm. The one that got hit was the most damage, nearly getting burned. It’s wrapped in white bandages from her shoulder all the way to her hand. “I’d say this about makes up for it. You pulled yourself up and saved everyone.”

Catra looks at the palm of her right hand. Almost looking through the bandages.

“What is it?”

Catra doesn’t make the mistake of not talking to Adora again. “After I beat Momoshiki…this weird mark formed on my hand. I don’t know what it is but I told your mom but she said just keep an eye on it.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No…but I’m getting these flashes, memories, but I can’t remember fully. No matter how hard I try.”

Adora mutters to herself. “I’ll have to get a look at it once your bandages can come off that way we can monitor the changes day by day. We can analyze your behavior too, eating and sleep patterns, maybe Entrapta can—”

“Hey slow down.” Catra laughs, “how about…we just see what happens?”

Adora looks worried. “You’re way too relaxed.”

“And you worry too much.”

“You’re my best friend, that’s my job. We look out for each other.”

Catra nods. “I know. But we have all our lives to worry but for now the village is safe and there is a lemon-flavored burger waiting for us. Together?”

Adora smiles. “On the count of three. One—”

“Two…”

“Three!”

They each take a bite out of their burgers at the same time. A second passes before—

“So sour!”

21

A few days later Catra sits in the middle of the morning light at her kitchen table playing her video game per usual. She’s starting from the first level, without cheat codes, with a new character not ideal from her usual choice. Her father sits in the living room mending her jacket that had gotten roughed up when she tried protecting Adora.

Catra glances over and sees her father’s stricken face as he worries on how to fix the jagged rip on the right shoulder of Catra’s red and black jacket. “It’s okay dad, just leave it.”

Gen looks up in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“…yeah, it looks cool like that,” in Catra’s distraction she loses the level of her game. “Man!” She huffs out in good spirits and pushes the game away when she realizes she doesn’t have time for another round. “I’ll take my jacket now, thanks dad. It’s time for me to get going. If I’m late again I’ll never hear the end of it from Glimmer.”

Gen smiles at his daughters’ changing demeanor.

“Uh, mom, don’t you have to run too?”

Erma breaks out of her stupor and downs the rest of her coffee. “Ah, you’re right.”

Catra pulls on her jacket and runs out the door with her mother in tow.

“Catra, are you going on a mission today?”

“Yeah!” Catra says, holding out her fist, “and give your all at work today… _Seventh!_ ”

Erma looks pleasantly surprised. “…you little—”

Catra snickers.

They fist pump before they each go out on their separate paths.

22

“It’s important to study hard and stay focused, ya know!”

“So even though your only a genin you fought alongside the five Kage and helped save the entire village?”

Catra flushes a bit under the lights of the camera, sheepish.

“So, what do you think are the most important aspects of a shinobi?”

“Teamwork and perseverance!”

“How wonderful…”

Catra says, “my mom tells me what’s up here isn’t as important as what you know and fell down here,” she gestures to her head then to her heart.

“And finally, do you have any thoughts on the redemption for the next upcoming Chunin Exams?”

Catra aims a fist at the camera, “I’m gonna do it right this time, ya know!” before her shadow clone turns to smoke leaving her interviewer alone on the screen.

23

“Really, a shadow clone?” Glimmer huffs, looking away from the screen to glare at Catra suspiciously. “Are you really the real one then?”

Catra smirks, “of course I am!”

Bow says, “you’ve really been busy with all those television interviews, huh?”

“…even though you cheated,” Adora mutters a bit too loudly.

Catra’s ears flatten. “I’ve already apologized, how many times do I have to say it? Give me a break already!”

A loud commotion comes from the zoo. Mermista gets a call from the zoo keeper about the same panda bear they’d taken down previously. “I’ll go down and lead it out to an open clearing. You guys catch it once I have it cornered.” She leaps down to join the chaos.

Bow sends Catra and Adora a look saying, “make sure you two do it right this time, okay? Specially you Catra, you are the Seventh’s daughter and granddaughter of the Fourth—”

“Hey, Catra.” Adora gets her attention.

“Huh? What’s with the sudden seriousness?”

Adora faces her head on and this time Catra isn’t ashamed to meet her gaze. “Answer me truthfully. Do you want to be the Hokage?”

“Me? Hokage?” Catra can’t hold back her laugh. “No way!”

“Huh?” Adora blinks in surprise.

Bow and Glimmer are equally shocked as they listen with rapt attention.

“But I’ll tell you what. When you become the Hokage I’ll act as your right hand and do whatever it takes to protect you.”

Adora blushes, “what?”

Catra looks out at the village as she lays her heart to them. “To me, being the Hokage is just one path. Just because my grandpa and mom were Hokage doesn’t mean I’ll go down the same road. Adora, what I really want…is to become an awesome shinobi like your mom. I’m gonna follow my own ninja way.”

Catra’s eyes are shining. Adora has always been looking into those eyes.

Adora looks away, hiding her blush, when Catra feels her staring.

The panda bear rampages down the street running after a terrified Mermista.

Catra says, “looks like she caught the _panda’s_ attention.”

“No,” Glimmer falls for the bait, “it’s a bear!”

Bow stops them. “No time for arguing, we’ve got a mission guys!”

Catra and Glimmer agree to leave it alone for now.

Adora walks up to the edge of the Seventh’s head they’re standing on top of on Hokage Rock. “Alright, let’s go, Catra, Glimmer, Bow!” she leaps.

“Yes!” Bow follows.

“Let’s do it!” Glimmer uses her teleportation jutsu to get there in a flash.

“Right behind you!” Catra jumps, readying a rasengan.

Together, the four of them take off on their own paths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know right now it feels like this story is just a carbon copy of Boruto (the movie) but this was just setting the foundation of Catra’s new objective and her overall background. Next chapter will be a little bit different from the anime/manga Boruto but if you aren’t caught up on the manga I highly recommend not reading this story. Kara and its members will be heavily discussed.


End file.
